Bolivian, Polish and Dutch news outlets fall for Air France hoax

PARIS (BNO NEWS) — Bolivian television station PAT, Poland’s TVN24 and Dutch news radio BNR probably thought they had their biggest scoop yet: photos from inside Air France Flight 447, seconds before it crashed into the Atlantic early this month. The crash killed more than 200 people and most parts of the wreckage have not been found yet.

Late last week, Bolivian television channel PAT apparently became the first to air the “shocking” footage, which were likely provided to them by a viewer. The photos show people grabbing to their oxygen masks and one even shows a passenger being sucked out of the plane.

But, they weren’t alone. TVN24 in Poland probably got the same adrenaline rush when they received these “exclusive” pictures. And on Sunday evening, news radio BNR in the Netherlands broke the same story on their website. “BNR has received photos from a reliable source with Air France - KLM from moments before the crash of the Airbus,” an article read.

But… is it really from Air France Flight 447? No. And apparently, the editors over at BNR, TVN24 and PAT haven’t watched the hit-series “Lost” either.

The footage is from “Lost” and aired several years ago. If you are not familiar with the series, you can watch the “exclusive” footage on YouTube.

“Damn, probably hoax … Sorry :(,” read a message from Marjolein Niestadt, who works for BNR Newsradio, on her Twitter account. The article was quickly and quietly removed.

It is unknown who is behind the hoax. You can see a screenshot of the BNR article here, a clip from PAT’s news report on TV here and TVN24’s report here.